By the time Justice Anthony M. Kennedy asked a government lawyer which
of several ways he would prefer the Supreme Court would use to hand him
victory, it was plain that Michael Rivera’s chances had all but
vanished. But, in fact, the oral argument Monday in Rivera v. Illinois
(07-9995) had only been underway less than a minute when doubt arose as
to why the Court had agreed to hear his appeal, and deeper doubt set in
over how he could ever prevail.